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The unprecedented wave of assaults on children by lone males began at the end of March, when a former doctor broke into a primary school in the city of Nanping, in south-eastern Fujian province, and killed eight youngsters.

Zheng Minsheng, who was executed for the attack, said he was pushed over the edge by “failures in his romantic life and in society”.

Since then, 17 children have been killed and 90 injured in apparent copycat attacks before the latest outrage.

Fears are rising among Chinese parents, many of whom can have only one child.

Sociologists blamed the attacks on rising stress caused by social inequalities.

“It is easier to attack children than adults and it gets more attention,” said Teng Wuxiao, a professor of social development and public policy at Shanghai’s Fudan University.

“We have not had enough time to study the motive in each individual case, but the overriding reason is the same: a desire for revenge against society.”

In response, the Chinese government has increased security at primary and secondary schools, drafting tens of thousands of policemen into additional patrols.

In Hanzhong, an industrial city of nearly four million people, about 2,000 extra police were sent to protect schools.

A contributor to Babytree, a Chinese internet forum for parents, said: “What else can we do apart from protesting and getting angry?

“These attackers have lost their sanity. Is this now a trend? We have often heard about campus violence in the United States, I cannot believe these things have now come to us.”